Visiting TFFC

Hatchery Gallery

Exhibits in the hatchery gallery give an overview of how hatcheries produce the millions of fish stocked into public waters each year. The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center concentrates on the production of largemouth bass and the koi used to feed them. TFFC also stocks channel catfish and rainbow trout into community fishing lakes in northeast Texas.

TFFC is the Texas host for the State-Fish Art Contest, a national competition for students in grades 4 through 12. Winning art work from prior years is displayed along with information about the contest. Also in this area you will find either photographs of various scenes at the center or traveling photographic exhibits. See the TFFC calendar for dates.

stuffToyota ShareLunker Overlook

The Toyota ShareLunker Program is one of the most important developments in fisheries management in the last half-century. Anglers who catch largemouth bass weighing 13 pounds or more can loan or donate the fish to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to be used in a selective breeding program. The program aims to increase the size and number of big bass for anglers to catch.

The round tanks in the room below—the Lunker Bunker—house the big bass during the spawning season from October through April. Eggs produced by the big females are hatched in the jars immediately below the window, and the fry are kept in the long troughs along the far wall until they are big enough to be stocked in the hatchery ponds outside. There they are reared to stocking size, either 1.5 or 6 inches long.